Mass ticketing in Westwood unfair The parking situation around Westwood apartments has gotten out of control. A few weeks ago, over 100 Westwood residents received parking tickets for having their cars extend onto the sidewalk. On March 17, many more Westwood residents received tickets. This time it was for stack parking their cars. It was not my choice to have stacked parking, as my apartment manager assigned the parking spots to my roommate and me. We paid for these parking spots when we signed our lease. I was not given a warning by my apartment manager to “park at my own risk.” If the parking bureau does not want us parking this way, then it should notify the apartment owners who assign us the parking spots. If the bureau wants to issue tickets for illegal parking, then it should ticket apartment owners, not the residents.
Cara Hope Fourth-year, political science
MEChA a valuable organization I support MEChA de UCLA. I recently spoke about immigration law to about 40 parents at the annual Raza Youth/Parent conference at UCLA that MEChA organized. I was impressed with the number of participants at the conference and with the quality of the workshops. The conference exemplifies the important contributions MEChA has made to our community. The Bruin Republicans should cease its unwarranted smear campaign against MEChA. MEChA is not a racist hate organization, rather it is an important student service organization that has opened the doors of educational opportunity to our community. The fact that Bruin Republicans was able to take out full-page advertisements in the Daily Bruin leads me to believe that the group is simply the mouthpiece of a virulent conservative agenda. When is the last time Bruin Republicans did any outreach and recruitment to underrepresented communities? MEChA has a proud list of alumni of lawyers, elected officials and college professors. I am sure it will continue to produce more leaders.
Russell Jauregui Attorney at Law
Column’s analysis of war falls short Garin Hovannisian’s column “Iraq war an act of self-defense aimed at peace” (Mar. 17) offers an articulate defense of the Iraq war which is quite typical of conservative discourse today. But he washes over important ethical issues as caveats and continues to support the unproven claim that Iraq is intricately bound to the war on terror. While the arguments that Iraq was ruled by an iniquitous, murderous dictator who should be disposed are convincing, there are other issues worthy of further exploration. Key among these is the right of our elected leaders to sell a war to the American public based on half-truths and outright lies. The ends-justify-the-means mentality, which conservatives are now using to rationalize our actions in Iraq, should be scrutinized with careful attention. The argument for this war was “imminent danger” and the ties between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. But bin Laden, this purported close ally, once called Hussein a “socialist infidel,” and no supportive evidence has been unearthed on either this relationship or the weapons of mass destruction. We should also scrutinize the argument that the war in Iraq has made us safer. Should we really be surprised that there has not been another attack on American soil since Sept. 11, when there were none before Sept. 11? The argument that we could have better spent our time and resources focusing on actual al-Qaeda supporters (like Saudi Arabia) and chasing bin Laden and other real terrorists is more persuasive. And the rather lax attention to some key defense issues at home (including nuclear power, airport security and chemical plant regulations) should be part of the administration’s record on terrorism. It seems like the two main “successes” of the war in Iraq have been to turn the widespread international goodwill toward the United States into a collective condemnation, and to inspire members of another generation of young Islamic men to engage in the war on terrorism themselves. But the most important issue to look at is the right of one country to attack another without provocation in order to install a government more friendly to its economic and political interests. What is a just war, and when do we have the right to use power? Is the forced importation of Western democracy as effective as facilitating reform or revolt from within and respecting the agency and freedom of people to choose their own destiny?
Rich van Heertum Graduate student, School of Education